Inclusive History at Santa Monica History Museum

FAIN: ZPA-283247-22

Santa Monica History Museum (Santa Monica, CA 90401-1608)
Sara Crown (Project Director: May 2021 to present)

The retention of three full-time positions (Archivist, Museum Manager, and Social Media & Visual Content Manager) and the creation of one new position (Curator of Inclusive History) to incorporate the histories of Santa Monica’s marginalized communities in the museum’s galleries.  

Considering inequities further magnified during the coronavirus pandemic and the race equity movement, Santa Monica History Museum determined it was time for us to decisively act by taking large, tangible, visible steps as a cultural leader of the City of Santa Monica and ensure a continuity of cultural care for our community despite the disruptions due to the pandemic. We now recognize that while to-date we have included stories and exhibitions that highlight Santa Monica’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and other marginalized groups, our curation and programming has not been holistically inclusive. We now aim to achieve the latter through our new Inclusive History at Santa Monica History Museum project, which will seek, gather, and share the histories of Santa Monica’s BIPOC and other marginalized communities. With generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, we will first focus on Santa Monica’s Black/African American community.